Smith Wigglesworth

We would also like to remember a few great men and women of God who have gone on before us and who we were very blessed to be able to quote and cite in “A Heart After God”…Corrie ten Boom, John G. Lake, and Smith Wigglesworth.

Smith Wigglesworth was a man of boldness! He was born in 1859 in Yorkshire, England to a poverty stricken family who had four children. He began working when he was only six years old for a nearby farmer, pulling and cleaning turnips. When he was seven years old he picked up a second job in a woolen mill. Because he worked from morning until night, he only had a few school lessons here and there and so he grew up illiterate.

Smith worked from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. six days a week, but on Sunday’s his grandmother would take him to the Methodist church where John Wesley had preached the century before. “At the age of eight Smith was attracted to these simple Yorkshire folk who enjoyed their worship without inhibitions. They thought nothing of time; in fact, in spite of the long working days of the week, they were to be heard in their little chapel at seven o’clock on a Sunday morning singing praises to their Lord.” (“The Life of Smith Wigglesworth A Pioneer of the Pentecostal Movement” By Jack Hywel-Davies) It was on one such occasion, that Smith gave his life to the Lord at the tender age of eight.

In 1882, Smith married Polly Featherstone. “At the time of their marriage, she was a preacher with the Salvation Army… They had one daughter, Alice, and four sons, Seth, Harold, Ernest and George…

Wigglesworth learned to read after he married Polly; she taught him to read the Bible. He often stated that it was the only book he ever read, and did not permit newspapers in his home, preferring the Bible to be their only reading material.” (Smith Wigglesworth- Wikipedia-The Free Encyclopedia)

“Heavily influenced by the Salvation Army, Wigglesworth became a zealous soul winner. When the Pentecostal Movement made its way to England in the early 1900s Wigglesworth was mightily baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Gifts of the Spirit began to function through his ministry almost immediately. Within a few years the demand for his ministry was in such demand that he was forced to give up his lucrative plumbing business. Smith Wigglesworth lived a life of total devotion to the Word of the LORD. His faith became the stuff of legend. There were between 17 and 22 confirmed cases of someone being raised from the dead under his ministry. He was bold and relentless in his faith toward GOD.” (Smith Wigglesworth- Empowering Faith Ministries- http://www.empowering-faithministries.org/smith-wigglesworth.html)

“Smith Wigglesworth, often referred to as ‘the Apostle of Faith,’ was one of the pioneers of the Pentecostal revival that occurred a century ago.
Without human refinement and education he was able to tap into the infinite resources of God to bring divine grace to multitudes.

Thousands came to Christian faith in his meetings, hundreds were healed of serious illnesses and diseases as supernatural signs followed his ministry.

A deep intimacy with his heavenly Father and an unquestioning faith in God’s Word brought spectacular results and provided an example for all true believers of the Gospel.” (http://www.smithwigglesworth.com/)

“The secret of spiritual success is a hunger that persists . . . It is an awful condition to be satisfied with one’s spiritual attainments . . . God was and is looking for hungry, thirsty people.”-Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947)

“The entire Bible is written about people that were extraordinary or unusually excellent and who deserve our attention because of being wonderfully different, and the Bible is also written about people who were the complete opposite, people who did everything, but bring glory to God. I believe God did that purposely so that we could study those people’s lives and have an example on how to live and how not to live. Out of the extraordinary men and women that the Bible talks about, they all have four things in common.

The first is that they all had their faults, from adultery, like David, to pride like Joseph. We all fall short of the glory of God-we all sin.

The second is that they all went through trials as God perfected them, matured them, and refined them; like Moses in the desert, to Jonah in the belly of the fish. These men and women were no different than any other human in the world in the fact that they still had sin in their lives and they still needed to be made more mature in God so that God could trust them with His works…

The third thing that these men and women have in common is that the men and women loved God, no matter their faults, with their whole hearts. They were all willing to give up everything for the God that they loved. Including, disobeying a law that went against God, knowing that the punishment was that they would be thrown into a fire or into a den of lions…

And the forth reason is, that because these people allowed God to refine them, and because of their great love for God, God was then able to use them in incredible ways to glorify Him. Using them to save entire nations, to heal the sick, and raise the dead. And the blessings on these people’s lives were more than most can imagine.” (Taken from “A Heart After God” by Erin Wolff Chapter 1 Jacob Vs. Esau Desire God More Than All Things)

We can learn from the people mentioned in the Bible and we can also learn from men and women who have lived since the days of the Bible; the men and women of faith who, although have had and do have their faults, have loved God with their whole hearts and have been used greatly by God. They have been used not only because of their great love for God, but also because of their hunger and their willingness. “…God is not a respecter of persons.” Acts 10:34 KJV God wants to do the very same things in your life and through your life that He did in the lives of the men and women in the Bible and also since that time.

"The secret of spiritual success is a hunger that persists . . . It is an awful condition to be satisfied with one's spiritual attainments . . . God was and is looking for hungry, thirsty people."
-Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947)

"The great men and women of God I am using in the earth today, I am not using them because they are something special, I am using them for one reason and one reason alone: it is because they've touched me and I have touched them."
-Rodney Howard-Browne "The Touch of God: A Practical Handbook on the Anointing"